SteveM6

Colin, whilst I am a very small part of the HM7K test team, my role there is simply to try out the system as an ordinary customer would. The only difference being that I have a direct link back to the project team for my feedback. That is not a 'heavy involvement with Hornby' nor does it carry any additional privileges other than a slightly faster resolution for any issues uncovered. In previous comments, you have often used your undoubted experience in electronics and programming while at Ford, to demonstrate differences in the approach taken by Hornby, yet you immediately debunk my comment about people's reaction to change as an 'excuse'. Not so, it is based on 30+ years experience of product and process development and implementation.

In the past,the forum would have been 'down' for a period of time but this 'live fixing' is a new approach. It's clearly a challenge for some who don't handle change particularly well. For my part, I found the new routes to the pages I want to read within a few minutes, and yes I do have some 'observations' to make but understanding that the team are still working on this in real time, I will wait until I see the final iteration before commenting. And having spent many years working in project and change management, I found that the world is split broadly into two camps. The first will take a change and say how do I make this work to suit me. The other group will be more like, it's different, don't like it, must be broken, take it away.

The slipways are still there but the factory has long been replaced by flats. Although the naval dockyard is now a museum, the commercial docks are to be closed down by the council for more housing. St Mary's Island , a Napoleonic mass graveyard, is now a housing estate where much of the approach road foundations are contaminated from the nuclear subs that were maintained here.

Presumably tax and MOT exempt if classed as an historic vehicle. Built about a mile from where I live. The Aveling and Porter factory passed through a few hands before the site became our local council offices. The site was cleared a few years ago and as it occupies a prime riverside location, is about to be redeveloped into high density, yet still expensive, housing for DFLs.🥲

The impatient forum.

Yes.

I appear to have lost the 'newspaper' button for new activity.

It will be here when it's ready.

Sorry, I inadvertently misled you. The update to v1.3.1 is only currently available to the test team as it hasn't been signed off. v1.3.0 (Feb 24) is the current version available to the public. But the release of the update is imminent.

Rob has passed the query on to the project team.

The OO J50 was one of the first TXS conversions I did and relatively straightforward. Remove one of the weights to give space for the decoder then fit the stayalive and speaker in the cab and disguise them with a crew. If you want a challenge, try converting a Bachmann J72!

True but just the import method for the time being. I'm now rebuilding my engine shed after losing all my locos when I changed tablet - not a five minute job!

John, I'm on 1.3.1 You may have to check for updates and force it in the app store.

Are you trying to use the take photo or import choice on the pop up menu? Importing from your photo library works on the latest update.

Go to the browse profiles button on the settings page. Select the profile you want to reload and assign it to the decoder during the set up process.

It was tested prior to launch in metal bodied locos with no appreciable drop off in performance.

I don't believe Hornby has plans for anything other than the non-sound 6 pin HM7K decoders. The sound and Bluetooth components are simply too big to fit on a 6 pin PCB. By all accounts it's a struggle to get BT added to a non-sound 6 pin which is probably why the date for those has been pushed back. Smaller parts may be available but their price would likely render them economically unviable.

And with a caveat that the components are so small, manual assembly would be nigh on impossible.

Traditional DCC has taken many years to evolve to the level we see today. I suspect many users expected HM7K to be a fully developed system from day one and fail to appreciate that such a radical change cannot realistically be delivered fully formed. Yes BB, Hornby never said it would allow control of accessory decoders from day one, not did it say that programming via the dongle would be possible, but did indicate that it was on the development list.

Nothing has changed since you last asked on Saturday.

The heatshrink issue is, in my experience, unproven. For a start many aftermarket decoders I've used are wrapped from the factory and I've not had an issue. Equally, I've routinely wrapped TTS and TXS with no issues (yet). I admit that my locos are not submitted to extended operating sessions although they spend hours sitting on a 'live' layout with the sound on. I do use a very thin, clear heatshrink, so maybe that helps.

It works the other way as well. Plenty of instances where the user's default position is to immediately blame Hornby. "A bad workman etc" Reality is likely somewhere in-between.

As you haven't indicated what the problems are I can only suggest that you try working through the troubleshooting guide and load the latest profile version from the app. BVCa beat me to it.

I'm in agreement with you. I know from feedback from Hornby that the majority of decoder failures they have investigated for failure can be traced back to finger trouble from the user. Not in every case, but definitely in the majority. In my own experience of 30+ HM7K decoders there has only been one failure - it's back at Hornby Towers being investigated and I fully expect to find it was down to me. I just hope they break it to me gently.